The Bull Ring At City Point

A Dreaded Provost Prison

By Bernard Fisher, May 31, 2009

1. The Bull Ring at City Point CWT Marker

Inscription. “It was a pen of filth and vermin.” – William Howell Reed, a Sanitary Commission agent

The Bull Ring was the Union provost Marshal’s prison at City Point used for the confinement of Union soldiers convicted or charged with desertion, murder, rape, disobedience, theft, drunkenness and other crimes. The pen was composed of three large one-story barracks which were surrounded by high wooden fences strictly guarded by sentries day and night. At the entrance was a horizontal bar of wood, supported by two upright posts from which were suspended short ropes used for tying up prisoners by the hands or thumbs as punishment.

According to William Howell Reed, a Sanitary Commission agent, the condition of the inmates was horrible. “It was a pen of filth and vermin.” Reed said he “could readily believe the officer, who had been a prisoner at Richmond, when he said that he would rather be confined in the Libby prison for six months than in the Bull-Ring for one.”

During the last week of the war thousands of Confederate prisoners were sent to City Point to await transportation to northern internment camps. At this time the Bull Ring was used to confine Confederate prisoners. There were so many Confederates in the Bull Ring that the overflow were allowed to sleep outside

By Bernard Fisher, May 31, 2009

2. The Bull Ring at City Point CWT Marker on Cedar Lane (facing south)

Location. 37° 18.793′ N, 77° 16.62′ W. Marker is in Hopewell, Virginia. Marker is at the intersection of Cedar Lane and Maplewood Avenue, on the right when traveling south on Cedar Lane. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Hopewell VA 23860, United States of America.

More about this marker. On the upper center panel is a photograph of the Bull Ring with the caption, "The Bull Ring served as a stockade for Union troops accused of various crimes. Sanitary facilities at the compound were primitive, and

By Bill Coughlin, April 25, 2007

3. Markers on Cedar Lane

There are two markers at this location. The Bull Ring At City Point Marker is the one on the right.

shelter, when it existed at all, was inadequate. One witness to the suffering remembered: “…In rain and snow and frost I have seen hundreds, perhaps thousands, of men huddled together without a particle of shelter or protection from the elements…its horror and its odor sickened me to think of, even a quarter of a century later…” The court martial board tried, on the average, four cases a day. Sentencing followed conviction. In a single day one man, saw five men sent off to execution."

On the lower center is a portrait of General G.W. Custis Lee. The caption reads "Not all those confined at City Point were criminals. Captured Confederate soldiers were held until special transports arrived to carry them to prison camps in the North. In the two weeks prior to the surrender at Appomattox Court House, some 14,000 Confederates passed through City Point en route to northern prisons, including Generals Richard S. Ewell, Joseph B. Kershaw, and G.W. Custis Lee (right)."

On the lowere right is a photograph of "The Bull Ring under construction."

Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. This page originally submitted on June 3, 2009, by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia. This page has been viewed 1,215 times since then and 42 times this year. Photos:1. submitted on June 3, 2009, by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia. 2. submitted on June 4, 2009, by Bernard Fisher of Mechanicsville, Virginia. 3. submitted on June 4, 2009, by Bill Coughlin of North Arlington, New Jersey.